Facebook Libra Must Follow US Rules, Says Treasury Official

It was back in July that Facebook’s Libra was announced and ever since the announcement, it has become the subject of intense scrutiny from lawmakers. It has not only led to the scrutiny of the entire cryptocurrency project announced by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) but that of the wider cryptocurrency market as well and consequently, it has proven to be a massive disruption. It also coincided with the point at which Bitcoin price started giving up the momentum that it had gained in the first half of the year.

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In a new development, a key US Treasury Official has stated that Libra will need to comply with the highest regulatory compliance standards before it is launched.

Although regulatory clarity is something that many in the crypto space are eager for, it has given rise to a whole deluge of uncertainty and remains one of the factors why many tokens, including Bitcoin, have underperformed. Sigal Mandelkar, who is the undersecretary of Treasury of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, spoke at a conference in Geneva and made the above-mentioned comments. However, more importantly, she not only spoke about Libra but went on to state that strict regulatory compliance is necessary for all cryptocurrencies that operate in the United States.

According to reports, Mandelkar said, “Whether it’s bitcoin, Ethereum, Libra, our message is the same to all of these companies: anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism has to be built into your design from the get-go.” Considering the threat of money laundering pertaining to cryptocurrencies, many regulatory officials have asked for greater regulation to be put in place.

At the conference, the official also said that it is important to put in more anti-money laundering safeguards in place in order to ensure that cryptocurrencies are not misused in any way. That being said, many in the crypto space are actually looking for more regulatory clarity so that institutional money can flow into it.